Your Number's Up
by mysticxf
Summary: Hurley stages a talent show while Kate starts hearing the whispers call her name.


Lost belongs to all those wonderful people and ABC. Just borrowing for some fun. Wow, looking at this is actually a popular subject. Oh well, hope I do it well. Hurley stages a talent show while Kate starts hearing the whispers call her name.

* * *

Lost – Your Numbers Up  
By Mystic  
February 2005

* * *

There always seemed to be a breeze in the air blowing Hurley's long curls into his face. He brushed them away, trying his best to push them behind his ears, but it seemed pointless. They fell back down. He sighed into the wind knowing it was no use, the fish breath he'd gotten used to came back up into his nostrils mixed with the sea spray. He'd had just about enough of it all. Glancing around, he watched people on the beach. Most were doing similar things - staring out into the sea with the hopes of spotting a ship.

Kate stood alone, several yards away from everyone else. She didn't seem afraid of being by herself. Hurley didn't want to think about what skills she might have acquired, she was wanted after all. He shook his head and turned away from her, to the others. Shannon was walking with Sayid, pouring over notes and laughing to one another. They seemed to be heading back to the caves. He raised an eyebrow as he spotted Boone watching them through the thick brush near them. Boone was protective of his sister, but the boy's obsession was kind of stomach-turning.

Walt walked the coastline, or at least what his father let him walk and kicked at a random seashell laying in the sand. Vincent seemed pleased to lay in the shade. Michael watched Sun as he worked on his raft. Sun watched Jin swimming in the ocean. It was all rather interesting, he thought to himself sarcastically.

"Dude," he called to Walt.

The boy stopped walking and glanced up at him, perplexed. Hurley waved an arm and Walt broke into a jog, stopping in front of him and planting his hands on his waist. "Yeah."

"Dude, I was thinking. We need to give morale a good kick in the pants here."

Walt lowered his eyebrows and looked around. "Thought that's what the golf course was for."

Hurley shrugged. "Yeah, man, it's good for the ones in the caves. I'm talking about the beachgoers."

Walt glanced around again. "Well, what do you have in mind?"

"Something fun," he responded with a devilish grin.

"I don't know," Walt whined. "My dad's not gonna like me just taking off. He tends to get a little..."

"Life-threatening?" Hurley finished, pushing off the ground to stand. His pants slipped slightly and he pulled at them, brushing the sand of his back end. "Don't worry dude, I'll take care of your dad."

The left corner of Walt's mouth drifted up into a goofy grin and Hurley laughed, walking away. "Just, stay there. Let the men do the men talk."

Walt leaned against a large piece of plane wing that jutted out from the sand. He watched Hurley walk calmly towards his father.

"Hey," Hurley said, watching the ocean. "Wanted to know if I could take your kid off your hands for a little while. For a good cause," he glanced down, seeing Michael looking back up at him slightly alarmed. "I swear, dude, there will be no knifes or guns involved. Just sticks, mud and fun. For a project."

"What kind of project?" Michael asked curiously.

Hurley placed a hand on his shoulder. "Trust, dude."

Michael gave a short laugh and Hurley smiled, walking back towards Walt, clapping his hands together.

Jack stumbled on a wet rock and jumped slightly when he felt the hand on his shoulder to steady him. He turned to see Kate looking up at him, a soft grin threatening to break across her face. He should have known. He adjusted his weight and continued walking, pulling at the straps of his backpack, which was full to capacity with fruits he'd found here and there while exploring the trails further into the jungle.

"You shouldn't be in this far, Jack," she told him, starting to follow.

He turned his face for just a second. "Neither should you," he responded flatly.

"I can take care of myself," Kate mumbled, but the words seemed weak, and she turning away from him, walking off the path he'd been on. Jack stopped, hearing her rustle through the foliage into parts he'd never been to before. He put a hand on his waist, stared up at the tree tops and huffed loudly in anger.

"Kate!" He called, walking in the direction she'd gone.

She slowed, pushing branches away from her face as she followed the sounds she heard until she came upon a stream, hidden by thick bushes and trees. She stopped, leaning over, and took a few drinks from her cupped hands. "What?" She asked as she sat on the grassy bank.

Jack smiled, but it wasn't a pleasant one. He was frustrated with Kate and he couldn't even find a sentence to describe why anymore. It seemed it was just moments jumbled together in his head now. "Why do you do that?"

"What?" She asked with that grin she always gave him. Like she was some little kid who had no clue they'd just knocked over the hundred dollar vase on the table, but in reality knew exactly what they'd done.

He turned away and left.

Kate's face fell in confusion. She let him walk away, removing her shoes to give her feet a wash in the cold water before her. The bushes rustled behind her and she turned, watching him break back through to stare at her, that look on his face she hadn't quite pinpointed the exact emotion of. Something along the lines of 'crazed'. She rubbed her sore heel in the water, taking her attention off him.

"You should wear socks when you hike." He informed her, his voice tense.

Kate shrugged. "Socks get wet, retain the moisture and cause all sorts of problems."

"Those shoes probably hold more water than a pair of socks."

"What do you want Jack?" She asked, suddenly annoyed.

He rubbed his forehead. "I just want you to stop playing these games with me."

"What games," she turned away with a shrug. "I came to keep you company and you shot me down. What was I supposed to do, stay and piss you off? No thanks. There are other people here I can ..."

"What, Sawyer?" He asked incredulously.

She huffed and pulled her shoes on roughly. "Why do you say his name like that?"

"Because I don't trust him as far as I can throw him."

"He's not a bad guy."

"Like you?" He spat.

Kate stood and stared at him. She had the urge to hit him and by the fear in his eyes, he could tell she wanted to. But she shoved past him and listened as he followed her. He didn't say anything for a few seconds and as he started, something whispered in the jungle making Kate's blood freeze. She thought she'd heard it before, on another day not long ago with Sawyer, but she'd dismissed it as just noise from a waterfall. This time she couldn't deny it. Someone had said something.

They had whispered her name.

* * *

"Did you hear that?" Jack asked quickly, coming to stand very close to her.

Kate jerked away from him and put a finger to her lips, listening.

"We should ge..." he started.

She slammed an elbow into his stomach and he curled up in pain. She wanted to apologize, but it wasn't like someone was whispering a nothing into the wind. It said her name. She didn't like that things in the jungle knew her name. Turning, she saw him leaning his hands on his knees, breathing as best he could. Kate touched his shoulder and he slapped her hand away. Then they heard the voices again. They were somewhere in front of them, not far away and Kate watched the trees that didn't move.

Jack took her wrist and pulled gently. "We should get out of here."

Nodding her head, Kate followed, not bothered by the fact that his hand slid to hers. She gripped him tightly as they made their way back to the caves, where she threw herself onto a rock and he stood in front of her. She dropped her bag, which contained a few random fruits and seeds for Sun. Kate let her thoughts go to Charlie that day in the jungle.

Seeing him hanging there dead.

Now Charlie stared at Kate as she wiped sweat from the back of her neck. She looked tense, scared even. Charlie couldn't remember the last time he'd seen her scared. Maybe after the Pilot had been pulled out of the cockpit window so long ago. He stood and started towards her, but Jack raised a hand and shook his head when he started to ask a question.

"What happened?" Charlie asked anyways.

The jungle just outside of the cave burst open and Locke slid to a stop, Boone slamming into his back. The two looked about wildly and Locke's eyes fell on Kate.

"What the bloody hell happened?" Charlie asked again, frustrated.

"You heard it too then," Jack asked Locke.

The older man nodded his head, Boone nodded as well. "They said her name," Locke pointed at Kate, his light eyes going wide with confusion. It wasn't a look Jack liked to see in Locke's eyes, he was used to the man having an answer for anything.

She stood, not looking at anyone in particular. "Ok, as much as I love all the attention..."

"What happened!" Charlie shouted this time.

Boone swallowed hard. "We were in the forest, on the trail of a boar and we heard someone whisper Kate's name. We thought we were imagining things, you know the heat messing with your head, but then they said it again. We must not have been far from where you were. They whispered something else, but it was mumbled and we came to check on Kate."

"Who's whispering Kate's name?" Charlie asked, frustrated.

"We don't know, Charlie." Jack shouted back.

He stood down, looking from Jack to Kate, who burst away from everyone and launched herself back out into the jungle. Jack trailed her. Boone started to follow, but Locke stopped him. Charlie went after Jack knowing Locke wasn't his keeper. The others in the cave who had overheard watched the trio leave and then went back about their business. It was how things went on the island.

"Where are you going?" Jack asked her, storming through the brush.

Slapping a tree branch away, Kate stomped loudly. "To the beach. Things don't whisper your name on the beach." She huffed.

Jack shook his head. "You should be in the caves. The caves are less open."

"Oh yeah, I'll feel a lot more secure." Kate tripped over a tree trunk and grabbed a vine, keeping herself steady, but she felt Jack's hand hover just under her left side. "I'll take my chances on the beach."

"Jack's right," Charlie stepped in. "The caves are more secure than the beach."

Kate shook her head, seeing the sand ahead. She could already smell the ocean through the trees and she took a deep breath, feeling as though she were going to hyperventilate. Even in hell, she was a wanted woman.

"Why?" Jack muttered.

She turned, this time unable to keep her balance and she fell into the sand with a shout. Jack had never seen her this nervous before and he moved to help her up, noticing they were gathering the attention of everyone on the beach. "Why?" Kate repeated, pushing away from him and crawling into a standing position. "Why what?"

"Why you?" He asked her.

"I don't know!" She shouted and watched him look around. Kate glanced around also and her cheeks reddened slightly.

Jack shook his head. "It makes no sense. I mean, Ethan wanted Claire for her baby." He paused and a look of panic rushed across his face. "Oh, Kate..." he started.

She looked at him in disgust. "No!"

A look of something between confusion and anger flew across his face. "So what then? Why then?"

"I don't know!" Kate repeated.

Charlie glanced at Hurley, who passed slowly, paper bunched up in his hands. "Uh, dudes, you're freaking out the beach goers here. Could you take the freaking back to the caves where it's apparently socially acceptable?"

Kate stood, grimacing as she held her wrist close to her.

"Let me take a look at that." Jack said, his tone softening as he reached out to touch her.

She pulled her arm away from his grasp and stormed off, staying very close to the ocean. Hurley watched her go and then looked up at Jack. "Hey, dude, I'm planning a little get-together tomorrow night and was wondering if the cave dwellers might want to participate."

"Yeah, Hurley, whatever," Jack said, nodding his head.

Hurley handed him a small paper and smiled. "Cool." He walked off, meeting Walt who also had small piece of paper in a stack in his hands.

Charlie watched the two and shook his head, going after Kate.

Jack glanced down at the sheet in his hands. On it was written the number forty two.

Charlie trailed behind Kate, who had picked up speed the second she knew she was being followed. He was used to it, back home his brother had done similar things when he'd been angry with him. He watched the way she held her wrist and shook her head at nothing, glancing every so often into the jungle just beyond the sand's edge.

"So the things in the forest are trying to make nice-nice, that it?" He asked her.

Kate turned slightly to look at him and she took a deep breath, it was a warning, but Charlie didn't take it. He didn't know he should. She realized she hadn't spent much time with him since the early days of the crash. So she slowed her pace and let him catch up.

He glanced at her wrist and frowned. "Looks like it's starting to swell, you might have hurt it. Jack could take a look at it."

"Jack doesn't want anything to do with me."

Charlie gave her a surprised expression. "Sorry, but in case you haven't noticed, the good doctor's smitten with you. Even Sawyer'll fess up to that."

Kate laughed. It was short and came out more like a breath with a smile. It felt awkward to be happy on the island, like she wasn't supposed to be. "Right now I need space."

"Sorry then." Charlie told her with a sigh. "'Cause it's my sworn duty to protect women in danger on this island. Or at least give it my best try." He frowned.

"You're sweet," Kate told him, "but if anything comes through those trees, I doubt you'd be able to protect me."

"I'd die trying," he told her honestly.

Kate stopped and kicked off her shoes. She went a step into the water and stood there, watching the ocean, her ears alert for anything in the jungle. It seemed to her like she could still hear them, but she knew it was just the fear in her taking over. What was it Jack said about fear? Count to five.

One.

Charlie kicked at her shoe. "You know, you should wear socks if you're gonna go for hikes on the trail, or off the trail as I suppose you go."

Two.

"Why do you do this anyways? I've seen you standing here lots of times. Don't think a ship's ever gonna come around these parts."

Three.

"Must be hard, being all on your own. I mean, I can't imagine being apart from the people on this island and I hardly know any of them. 'Cept maybe Claire and Jack, and you a bit."

Four.

"Hey, look at that, your feet are sinking into the sand! We didn't have beaches like this back home. Can't even remember the last time I went to the beach before the crash. Not a big beach person myself."

Five.

"Kate?"

She pulled her feet out of the sand and took several steps away from the water, letting herself plunk down into the dry sand. Charlie watched her, then picked up her shoes and went to sit next to her. "You talk a lot." Kate told him.

"And you don't talk much."

"It's just the way I am."

"The way you are is very interesting," Charlie joked. "Seriously though, Jack should look at your wrist."

"It's fine," Kate told him.

He touched her wrist and she shouted, pulling away from him. "Yeah, fine, I see." Charlie watched her as she stared out into the ocean. "What do you think about? I mean, when you're out here. We do notice you, you know. We see you all the time, but no one knows you well enough to have any clue as to what you're thinking about."

"Maybe I'm thinking everyone else is spending too much time thinking about what I'm thinking about." She smiled at him.

"Doc should look at your wrist." He repeated.

Kate went back to looking out into the ocean. If she looked long enough, she could make herself seasick. If she looked long enough she could forget she'd heard someone whisper her name in the jungle. She touched her wrist, watched the way the bone was disappearing into a swollen mass. It was just how she was when she was frightened. She ran even if she was hurting.

The bar was old and dirty and Kate sat in a corner eating French fries and downing a beer. They were the only places people didn't look for her. It had all been a bad accident. The circumstances of which were quite unbelievable and now she had a growing bounty on her head for the death of a man she had once loved more than any person on the planet.

"Lady, how long you gonna occupy the booth?" A man asked. She'd already turned him down for beer, for money, for sex, and now all he wanted was the table so him and his buddies could laugh and get drunk in comfort.

Kate stood and brushed past him into the lobby and out the front doors. She heard them getting angry behind her, pumping each other up. So when the doors opened seconds later, she wasn't surprised, but ready. Her muscles tensed and she continued towards the car she'd stolen.

"Hey!" The man shouted.

Kate pulled open the door to the beat up red Jetta and he grabbed her shoulder, turning her and slamming her against the open door frame. She winced, momentarily, and stared up at him.

"What's your problem?"

Smiling, Kate responded, "You're drunk. Maybe you should go back inside before things get…"

"What?" He spat in her face. "I think you owe me a little something for my troubles."

Kate rolled her eyes, then felt thick fingers slap against her left cheek. She tasted the familiar metallic liquid in her mouth and as she opened her eyes, she took him in. He wasn't quite six feet tall, maybe a bit over two hundred pounds, his gut hung over his belt. His face had three day old stubble and his brown waves were half pressed against his head from over wearing a hat. Probably a trucker, she knew. These were their routes she'd taken to.

"Let me go." It was a simple statement.

He gripped into her side and she dealt him a head butt. As he recoiled, she brought a knee into his groin and then pushed him to the floor. Before his friends could gang up on her, she jumped into the car and slammed the door shut, reaching underneath the steering wheel to click the wires together and race away.

One more thing on her growing rap sheet.

Kate watched behind her for headlights that never came and she cried all the way into Arizona.

Jack handed the last of his fruit to a man and his wife, one of the only couples to survive the crash together. They thanked him and retreated back into the cave for the night. It was early and this was diner. There would be no boar tonight, no fish. Just fruits. He smiled at Sun as she went into the caves behind Jin and he turned his attention to Locke, who was standing on the edge of a large rock that formed a secondary wall to one of the cave entrances.

"So what are you and Boone doing out there now? Claire's back, she's safe, there's no trail to pick up."

Locke turned, palming a hunting knife from one hand to another. "People still need to eat."

Nodding, Jack tossed his empty bag close to where he intended to sleep that night and looked up at the older man. "Yeah, but, uh, you're not bringing anything back. Not that we aren't grateful for what you do bring."

Narrowing his eyes, Locke put the knife into his waistband. "Hunting isn't like sticking fifty cents into a vending machine, Jack. You gotta work at it."

Jack grinned. "Yeah, I get that."

"I think you should bring Kate back to the caves. There's no telling who's out there in the jungle."

"I can't force her back." He laughed.

Locke stared at him. "Yes, you can."

"What am I supposed to do, knock her out and drag her here? I'm not a cave man and she's not my cave girl."

The older man broke into a smile. "Fine, she can stay on the beach where Sawyer can play cave man." Locke rocked on the balls of his feet and then went into the jungle.

Charlie sat next to Kate in a trance. He'd been staring at the ocean for hours. His face was burned, he could feel it, and his arm muscles were sore from being wrapped around his knees for so long. How did she do it? He asked himself. Kate's eyes were half-closed and she seemed lost in thought. Charlie shook his head and brought a hand to her shoulder, feeling her shiver at his touch.

"Wherever you're going to make camp, we should do it now. It's getting late."

Nodding, Kate moved to push off the ground and fell back, gripping her right wrist.

"What happened?" He asked her quietly, helping her up.

There were tears in her eyes from pain. "I fell on it." She raised a hand to stop Charlie from speaking. "I know, Jack should look at it." The duo stood slowly. Charlie started to help her up, but she pushed him away, using her good hand.

"This mean you're going back to the caves?" Charlie asked, hope springing into his voice. He really didn't want to sleep on the beach.

"Awe, Freckles, I thought you weren't going to be that girl." Sawyer said, swaggering up behind them. "Hey, hobbit," he smiled at Charlie who glared at him.

Kate let her hand drop at her side. "Sawyer, why don't you crawl back in your hole."

He smiled. "And miss the chance to annoy you? Never." He put a hand to his own heart. "You've captured me, baby."

Rolling her eyes, Kate started on the trail towards the caves with Charlie, leaving Sawyer on the beach. In the darkness, the trail seemed to stand out. The light from the moon lit up the path on the ground. Charlie stuck close to Kate because as much of a man he wanted to prove that he was, he certainly believed she could defend herself if she needed to. Kate smiled at him, bringing her hand back up to cradle it against her chest.

"Why do you do that?" He asked her.

"What?" She asked innocently.

He pointed at her wrist. "Pretend like nothing's wrong."

"Ever seen what happens to the weakest animal in a pack?"

Charlie shrugged.

"They get eaten."

He shivered.

"It's something I've always done. Instinctively, maybe. I never let anyone know when I'm weak," she told him with a laugh.

Shrugging his shoulders, Charlie told her, "Yeah, but Sawyer's not exactly a hunter and you're not exactly prey."

"Oh, really," she said, giving him a smile.

Charlie raised his eyebrows at the birds that shouted in the jungle. "I don't like this place."

"No one likes this place."

"Just glad the…"

Covering his mouth, Kate breathed a small sigh. "What, wanna jinx us, Charlie?"

"Just thinking aloud."

"Yeah, well, don't."

She stopped when she heard the footsteps ahead of her. A flashlight lit up, pointing into her eyes and she shielded them, lowering herself slightly to get a look at who it was. Kate smiled at the man.

"Jack, what are you doing?" She asked.

"Coming to get you." He told her, sounding confused.

Kate nodded her head. "Turn that off."

He clicked a switch and the light disappeared.

"Good god, man, I'm blind!" Charlie half whispered.

Feeling his hands find her shoulder, she touched him with her left hand to assure him and started walking towards Jack. The trees rustled all around them and Kate felt her heart begin to race as whispers began to form.

"It's just wind in the trees," Charlie said, his voice cracking into a laugh.

But the wind whispered her name again and Jack slowed to stand at her side. Kate felt her eyes well up as they reached the cave's entrance and she let Jack lead her away from everyone else, to a part of the cave she'd never seen before. It seemed like it was the end of the line. It was a large cave with large palm fronds thrown in a corner.

Jack shrugged. "More privacy back here."

Kate held up her wrist which was swollen far beyond denying anything was wrong and he took it gently, placing it in his lap to examine her. She liked that they could have this relationship, a silent one, and it was alright. In her life she'd been with men who hated her silence. They thought it meant she was keeping secrets. She usually was.

"You should have come back here before," he told her sternly.

"Sorry." It was a weak sorry and she sniffled lightly when he looked back up at her.

"Kate, it's gonna be fine." He tried to sound as positive as possible, but his voice lied to her. He grabbed his 'doctor' bag from a corner and pulled out a small roll of cloth. He wrapped her right wrist tightly as she grimaced.

"Jack," Kate whispered.

He glanced up at her.

"I'm scared."

* * *

Morning seemed to bring a calm over the caves, which had been buzzing about the whispers in the jungle all night. Most had the same assumption: Kate had shacked up with some guy on the island and now the same people who kidnapped Claire were coming for Kate. But by night's end, people were convinced no one had actually heard anything and everyone was just making things up.

Walt knocked on the cave wall just outside the last cave. The entrance he'd been told Kate and Jack had entered the night before. He peeked his head around into the cave and then looked back at the others who were gathering their things for morning treks to find food or take a walk to the beach.

Lots of people spent their mornings at the beach and headed back to the caves mid-afternoon to avoid being left on the trails after the sun set. Walt took a deep breath and stepped into the last cave. He didn't have much experience with issues of sex. His mother and Brian locked the door every night, even when he'd been a toddler, and he'd been taught to knock. But Hurley sent him on his 'mission' and he'd promised he'd get it done bright and early.

"Jack? Kate?" He whispered.

He glanced at the two. Jack was laid out on the ground, his head propped up by his bag. Kate lay at his side, her wrapped wrist resting against his stomach, her head nestled on his shoulder. There were no blankets and they were both fully clothed, so Walt didn't retreat like his stomach was telling him to.

Walt cleared his throat loudly. "Jack? Kate?" He asked a bit louder.

Their eyes opened slowly and he stare at the ceiling as he listened to them stand and wipe dust off their clothes. Jack touched his shoulder. "What is it Walt?"

"Hurley sent me in here to give her something," he said, his eyes moving from the cave walls to Jack's eyes.

"What's Hurley up to anyways?" Kate asked, curiously. "Saw him approaching everyone on the beach." She smiled. "Except me." It was an adage, muttered under her breath.

Walt pulled a small sheet of paper out of his pocket and handed it to Kate. "Hurley's doing a talent show. Said it's good for everyone, for their moral or something. You can show if you want. It's no big deal if you don't want to perform. I'm going to. Hurley's going to."

"What, like singing and stuff?" Jack managed with a laugh.

Walt looked disappointed. "I don't laugh at your golf, man."

Shaking his head, Jack raised a hand. "Sorry. No, it's a good idea. Tonight?"

"Tonight." He said, pointing to Kate. "Lady, is it true there's things in the jungle that wants you dead? The same thing that wanted the pregnant lady's baby?"

Kate gripped the piece of paper in her hands. "Walt…" she started. Then she shook her head and smiled, but she knew he didn't buy it.

Jack watched Walt go and turned to grin at Kate. "You're such a liar," he teased. She looked away and then touched her wrist. "How is it?"

"Fine, I guess."

"We should hang out here." He bit his lip. "For the day."

Kate walked past him, past the others in the caves and into the jungle where she stretched properly and looked around. When she felt Jack behind her, she told him, "I've never been one to back down from anything."

"But Kate, we don't know what's out there."

"No, we don't. It could be nothing and we're just making a big deal out of it. Maybe they know all our names and are just messing with our head."

He nodded. "That's great, but why?"

"Because they're psycho." Kate huffed. She watched Locke, who raised an eyebrow at her before disappearing into the jungle with Boone again. She was starting to think they were searching for something a little more intimate than boar. Then she saw Sun and remembered her bag. "Sun, wait!" She called.

The other woman turned and watched as Kate retrieved her bag and removed the seeds she'd found. "I think they're Kiwi, or at least they looked like Kiwi, tasted like Kiwi." She laughed and handed Sun the seeds. The other woman smiled, nodded, said her thank you's in Korean and went into the jungle towards the gardens she'd started.

"In all this chaos, you manage to remember seeds."

"I like fruit," she responded, pulling out several banana's from her bag.

Jack nodded. "You like a lot of things."

Kate didn't understand, but she didn't think she was supposed to. So she handed the banana's to a man who was giving her a hungry look and then pulled her backpack on. "I'm going out there. You can come with me. You can stay here. I don't care."

He gave her a tight lipped smile. "Figured it'd be like this."

"What?" She asked, heading into the jungle.

Jack jerked in response, grabbing his own bag and pulling it on as he maneuvered through the long vines that marked the beginning of jungle beyond the caves. He hated that she did that, forced him to go along with her even when he didn't want to. Jack knew well that Kate did what she wanted when she wanted, but he didn't understand why she was so reluctant to stay in the caves. Sure, he thought, she doesn't want to be Eve. What's that got to do with the price of rice in China?

Jack shouted her name, but she didn't stop moving. He noticed she touched a tree here, or glanced in odd directions there, almost as if she were searching for something. Jack stopped. "You made your own trails?"

Kate nodded and he followed again. "The trails are where everyone else travels, so people have basically eaten up all the fruits, or at least the ones they like. So I make new trails for myself to bring back fruit and seeds for Sun."

"Smart." Jack commented.

"Thanks."

He watched her hike herself up a tree like a cat and scratched his head, amazed that beads of sweat were already forming. "So what are you running from back there?"

"What?" She hollered back down at him.

"The caves, what are you running from in the caves?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," she tossed a large green bulbous fruit down to him and he caught it, staring at it a moment before putting it into his backpack.

He gave an angry sigh. "Kate, you know what I'm talking about."

The Marshall was on her tail for the third time and she wasn't sure how she was going to escape him. It was easier when the bounty was smaller. People don't care for a few hundred dollars reward. Once you added the third zero, it was a totally different matter. US Marshall's, Police, hell, anyone with a will and a shovel. Kate climbed up the tree and watched him. He had his gun drawn.

"Come on, sweetheart. This doesn't have to be hard."

Kate was tempted to laugh, but instead she shifted herself higher, where she was completely hidden by the branches. The brown of her cargo pants had become streaked by dirt and blended well into the bark of the tree. Her hunter green top camouflaged into the leaves and she'd long abandoned the grey jacket that would have made her stand out.

It was what her father had taught her. In enemy territory you lay low, stay concealed and don't get caught. It was amazing to her the things her father taught her that sprung to her head now that he was dead. She used to think he was a psycho whack job when she was younger. She loved him, but didn't understand why a twelve year old girl needed to learn these things. They were the rules and statements of a US Army Ranger, not a little girl.

As crazy as it would seem to anyone who had met her recently, she liked to make pigtails with pink ribbons and play with her Barbie dolls when she'd been a kid. Sure, climbing trees and playing baseball with the boys was fun, but she enjoyed singing silly pop tunes and trading slap bracelets with her friends.

"Kate, this is simple. You stop hiding and we take you into custody easy, or we might have to shoot you."

Yeah, right, Kate thought. She knew there were circumstances. She knew they needed to hear her side of the story before they put her in an electric chair. Kate had killed a man, she hadn't eaten his liver or massacred his family. One murder. It struck her that had been the first time she thought if it as such. Before it had been 'the accident' or the 'unfortunate death', but never Murder. Shaking her head, she leaned against a branch and watched him raise his vision towards the tree branches.

"Shit," she whispered to herself.

He fired four shots into the trees. One slapped off a branch near her finger, sending bark flying at her face, scratching her nose and cheek. But she didn't budge. She'd lit off one too many firecrackers on hot July nights to be scared of a little ricocheted tree bark.

The Marshall gave a sigh and put his gun back into the holster. He glanced around and listened and Kate made sure she didn't make a sound. When he started off, she knew better than to relax. She stayed in the tree for two days.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Kate shouted back, throwing three fruit at him, watching him catch two and drop the third which cracked open spilling juice onto the ground.

Jack glanced up at her and made a face of annoyance. "You know, there are people on this island who actually care about you."

She stopped picking fruit and let herself think about the idea. It had stung for some reason she couldn't comprehend. She'd gotten so used to the idea that no one cared that it just seemed insane. So she went back to the fruit and didn't let herself think about it again.

"Kate?" Jack asked after a moment's silence.

She stopped searching for fruit and swung herself out a bit to see him.

He smiled. "Got any more?" He raised the melon he'd taken a bite of.

Charlie watched Hurley slap another handful of mud against the wall of sticks he'd already strung together with vine. Walt and Hurley had already made one wall of mud the night before, which had caught the attention of everyone on the beach, but now a second coating? Walt came over with a palm frond and lifted it. "This good?" He asked.

Hurley smiled. "Yeah, that'll be good. Get a load more of those."

Charlie looked from the young boy who took off running to the large man who smoothed out the mud. "And, might I ask, what on earth you're doing?"

"For the talent show, dude."

Nodding, Charlie crossed his arms over his chest and rolled back on his heels. "And, might I ask, what on earth you're doing?" He repeated.

"Don't you see," Claire offered. "It's the stage."

Hurley gave her a thumbs up, which flicked mud on Charlie's cheek. "Sorry, dude."

"Oh, that's no problem." Charlie told him sarcastically as Claire laughed and wiped it off.

She touched her stomach gently. "Hurley, what's your talent going to be?"

The man stopped and cocked his head slightly to the right. "Dunno, I'd run some comedy by you all, but I don't know if it'd be funny."

"Well, I'd certainly like to hear your comedy, so you'd better work on something good 'cause I need a laugh," Claire told him with a grin.

Hurley lowered his head, looking bashful. "Yeah, I'll work on it."

Charlie turned. "So, Claire, what're you gonna be doing for us."

"Hopefully not childbirth," she laughed.

He shook his head. "No, hopefully not."

Then Claire shrugged. "Don't know. I was thinking of singing a lullaby."

Charlie raised a finger and got an excited look on his face. "Hey! We could duet. I figured since I have two talents: playing guitar and annoying people, I'd stick with the one that won't get me kicked in the arse at the end of the night."

"So which are you doing?" Claire teased.

He grinned.

"I think it'd be great, Charlie." She pushed on his shoulder playfully, watching the proud look spread on his face.

"So I hear the beach people are doing some kind of talent show." Boone told Locke as he whacked the hatch with the axe for the third time straight. It sparked as the metals connected and Locke let the axe fall to the ground beside him.

He retrieved a small piece of paper from his pocket. "Number thirty."

"Thirty one," Boone responded with a grin. "Not sure if I'm going to participate, I mean, there are more important things to be worrying about than talent shows."

Locke raised a finger of caution. "Things have been tense since Claire's return. There's no harm in a little fun. I fully intend to participate."

"Oh." The younger man said, sitting straighter. "I just don't know what talent I have."

"Every man has a talent."

"Mine's paying off bullies, don't know how entertaining it'd be on stage." Boone looked away from Locke, towards the jungle around them. "So what do you think's out here? I mean, there have to be other people."

Locke nodded his head. "I'm sure there are."

"There's that French lady."

"There is."

Boone shrugged and leaned back against a tree. "But what would they want with Kate. There's nothing spectacular about her other than she's, you know… hot."

Locke laughed and Boone joined in. "Men ARE still men, Boone, even in the wild. Maybe the thought of a strong woman on their side is enough to make them do crazy things."

"So you're saying they want her because she's hot."

Shaking his head, he pointed at him. " Shannon could be described as hot, but you yourself have said she's dumb as a bag of bricks. Kate's a tricky little devil. She's got some skills you couldn't imagine."

"Oh yeah, how would you know?" Boone asked with a laugh.

Locke smiled, then shook his head and picked the axe back up.

Kate's pace had slowed and Jack found it easier to keep up. He often wondered where she got her energy from. She seemed able to keep walking and walking when most would have dropped dead. Touching her arm, he fell back onto a tree stump and took several long breaths. She smiled at him.

"Energizer's got nothing on you."

Removing her bag, she took a guava fruit out and took a bite out of it, sucking on the moisture and spitting out the outer shell. She handed a second one to Jack. "This'll help."

"Seriously, were you a girl scout or something?"

Kate laughed. It was so loud it echoed. She touched the tree that had fallen long ago and snapped off some of its branches before looking down at him. "If I tell you, you won't believe me."

"Don't have much of a choice, do I?"

She raised an eyebrow. "There's always a choice, Jack."

"So I chose to believe you, were you a girl scout?"

Kate shook her head. "Never. Wanted to be a boy scout for a while though. The girls always seemed to be selling cookies and doing arts and crafts while the boys were shooting bow and arrows and going on camping trips."

"I was never a boy scout." Jack admitted. "Never wanted to be either."

"That's a lie," Kate pointed at him.

He smiled. "See, I call you and you get upset; you call me, no big deal."

"So why weren't you a boy scout?"

"Dad didn't want me to ruin my hands. He said they were good surgeon hands."

"That's bullshit," Kate huffed. She watched the confusion spread on his face. "I mean, it's crap that he was making plans for your life when you were like ten."

He shrugged. "Don't all parents do that?"

Kate looked away. "My parents didn't make plans. It took too much trouble. We just went with the flow."

"Explains a lot."

"Why?" Kate asked, finally sitting on the large fallen tree.

Jack took out his water and drank a bit before looking over at her. "That's just how you are. No matter how rough things get, you just shake it off and keep going."

"I don't like plans."

"Why? They simplify things," Jack told her.

Kate shook her head. "Plans complicate things."

"You don't like structure, I get that." He said with a laugh.

Looking at the floor, Kate grinned and picked off another branch from the tree. She stabbed at the brownish leaves on the ground and shrugged her shoulders at nothing. "I just don't like the idea of everything being laid out for me. Lots of people live their life having every second of their day planned out. You got up this morning with a plan for the day. Jack wake up. Jack get food. Jack save Kate. It's all one two three. I can't live like that."

"That's why you won't move to the caves."

Kate shook her head. "I don't move to the caves because the caves mean there's no hope of rescue. Being in the caves means you die in the caves."

"You don't wanna be Eve."

"I don't wanna be Eve." She repeated, testing her wrist. It was sore, but better.

The brush crackled ahead of them and Kate's head snapped up. Her grip tensed on the stick in her hands and she searched for anyone. Jack watched the spot she watched and waited. The laughter that emerged gave away the culprit.

"Damn, Freckles and Doc, sitting in a tree… should I give ya'll some privacy?" Sawyer kicked at a fallen fruit and smiled at the duo before him.

"Does being a dick come natural, or do you have to work at it?" Kate told him, narrowing her eyes.

Jack watched her face. The repulsion was there, but there was also something else, hidden in her eyes. It was a spark of fire. He wasn't sure what to make of it, but it made him angry. He stood and adjusted his back pack. "We've got fruit to pick."

Sawyer raised a hand. "Hold your horses, cowboy, I'm just passing through. You two can go back to your little tête-à-tête in just a second."

"What are you doing out here anyways, Sawyer?" Jack said with a scowl.

"Same as you, Doc." He held out a fruit. "Just looking for lunch."

Kate stood and went past him, not giving him a second glance. Jack watched her go and then looked back at Sawyer. "You think pissing her off's gonna make her fall in your arms? Is that how it worked back home?"

Sawyer raised an eyebrow at him, amused. "Look, Jack," he said his name pointedly, "I'm just looking to survive on this island. That a crime?"

Jack lowered his head and bit his bottom lip hard. Then he stormed after Kate. He pushed through the vines he'd seen her go through. The wind picked up and the rain started. He wondered if somewhere it was on a timer because it never slowly started, it just started. Drops smacked him hard in the head and drenched his body within seconds. His vision blurred through the water and he whipped his head around.

"Kate?" He called. He listened.

The wind whispered her name back to him.

* * *

Jack rushed through the trees, abandoning the trail they'd been on and he shouted her name several times, but she didn't respond. He kept wondering if this was a game she was playing, but he knew Kate wouldn't play this game, it was far too morose. Kate was many things, but that wasn't one of them. His feet tangled in the vines and he tripped, catching himself on a tree branch and he shouted her name again.

For a split second he wondered where Sawyer was. The man had not been far behind him, he should have heard him screaming her name, he should have been helping him find her. Jack didn't think Sawyer cared about much, but he was sure he gave at least a little bit of a damn about Kate. His mind didn't have time to think long on it though because he found himself stumbling out onto the beach. His eyes searched the shoreline hoping she'd just run away from him, run back to her sacred spot along the shore and gone back to watching the ocean.

"Hey, man, what's wrong?" Michael asked him, standing straight.

Jack swallowed hard, his breath seemed to burn his throat. "It's Kate, I can't find her."

Michael smiled. "The girl's like that, I'm sure she'll turn up around lunch with some fruits or something."

Shaking his head, Jack tore back into the jungle leaving Michael confused. He went deeper than he'd ever gone before, seeing shades of green that frightened him just a bit in their darkness. Somewhere the thing they'd been dreading the return of gave a long howl and he could imagine those on the beach as well as those in the caves stopping what they were doing to figure out which direction it was coming from.

Jack's heartbeat raced faster in his chest as he continued walking. The sound came again, closer this time and he forced himself not to be afraid. He counted as he went, muttering the numbers under his breath. Each one resonated her name in his mind and it made him keep going. He wasn't going to lose her. Not her.

"KATE!" He shouted, hearing the trees at his left side start to topple.

He jumped, grabbing a large branch and climbed as best he could on the wet surface until he was hidden behind the brush and vines of the tree. Below him, he heard the stomping of something he couldn't make himself look at and then it was gone again, and the trees were quiet. Jack didn't move out of fear. He'd promised himself as a young man he'd never be afraid again, but there were things in this world that could strip promises. Things that howled and knocked over trees.

Jack closed his eyes. He imagined Kate holed up in some tree somewhere not far from him torn between laughing and crying. She wouldn't let him see her cry. He wondered about her a lot. When she'd lie to him, he'd spend half the night up trying to figure out why. What was so horrible in her past that made her like this? He started to make up a life for her, somewhere that her father beat her and her mother abandoned her.

It made sense to him.

"Kate!" He shouted again, but it was weaker. He was terrified of the monster coming back and seizing him. He'd seen what had happened to the Pilot, he didn't want to end up some pile of ripped muscle and bones bleeding from the tops of the trees. The image made his stomach lurch as he glanced around, hearing the howling get farther and farther until he couldn't hear it anymore.

Dropping to the ground, he began making his way back to the caves. The only way he was going to find her was with more people. He needed Locke, the man could track her, couldn't he?

Kate heard a music box playing somewhere near, but her head stung enough to keep her eyes closed. In reality, she didn't want to open her eyes. She was afraid of what she'd see. Claire hadn't been able to give a good description of anything that had happened to her after Ethan took her. Some memory issues. Kate wondered if they'd wipe her memory too. There were footsteps and a female voice hummed along to the music box.

She felt her hair stuck to the side of her head with the mixture of water from the rain and blood from where she'd been dealt a nasty blow. She knew it'd been the butt of a gun, she'd felt that at least once before. Rocks and wood felt different when they smacked you in the head. Mostly the difference was in how much stung when you woke up.

The box stopped and the woman went silent. Kate winced and let her eyes open just a slit. The light that had been on somewhere near her went out and she relaxed, closing her eyes again. Someone was definitely watching her. In her head, she was envisioning the tribal groups in other countries from her fathers stories. They had crazed looks in their eyes as they attacked with weapons made of bones and sticks. She wondered if movies were interfering with her memory. It happened.

But she didn't dare move or speak. The ground beneath her was hard, she was on a dirt floor and her hands and feet were tied together. Her wrist throbbed beneath the ropes that had been used to tie her hands. It'd been a long time since she'd felt this restricted. Not even on the plane with her hands cuffed underneath the tray had she felt like this. Mostly because she knew a minute off the plane she'd knock out the Marshall, steal his key and take off again. It'd been her plan all along. Before the crash.

Kate swallowed hard and fought to keep her breathing under control.

"You can stop pretending, I know you're awake," came the lightly accented voice from across the room.

Kate had a blindfold over her face and her hands and feet were hog-tied behind her back. Her head throbbed and her muscles ached. She wondered how long she'd been like that. Brushing her head against the dirt floor, she removed the cloth that restricted her eyesight and got a look around her. It might have been a barn, or just an old warehouse.

"No use in trying to 'scape little lady, I worked on a farm for two years 'n can tie cattle better than anyone in the district."

"How very nice for you," Kate told the man she couldn't see. She pulled a bit on the ropes and realized that, sure enough, they were tied to tight to do anything. So she rested.

"Saw your picture in the post office."

Kate lowered her head. She really needed to get out of the country already.

"Thought to myself, a twenty thousand dollar reward would come in handy. I could start my own business."

She glanced up at the footsteps that came closer. They belonged to a man who was barely over five feet tall. He was scrawny, coke bottle glasses perched on his oversized nose and a balding head with a comb-over. She smiled at him and he scowled at her.

"You laughing at me?" He shouted.

Nodding her head, Kate rolled onto her side. He was wearing cowboy boots and a scary vest that she knew shouldn't have been worn past 1990. She thought she even saw an NKOTB pin just inside. He might have been thirty, thirty five years old, hundred pounds square. If she'd been on her feet, one weak blow to the head would have taken him out for good. But Kate didn't think about that, she pulled her smile back and glared up at him.

"Look, I think you have me mistaken for someone else. My name's Erin Miller. I'm passing through town on my way to visit my parents in Florida. They retired this year and I thought it'd be a nice surprise to see their youngest daughter…"

"Cut the bullshit, lady. You think I'm stupid?"

"No, sir," she told him, shaking her head. "I just think you have me mistaken. If you untie me, I'll show you some identification that can clear this up. I promise I won't even get mad. It's just a misunderstanding." She smiled at him, a warm honest smile that started to crack him, but then he huffed and reached down into her back pocket, removing the wallet she carried there.

"Erin Miller, eh?" He laughed. He removed the license and bit his top lip. "What's your date of birth, Erin."

Kate laughed. False identification in the hands of a smart person never yielded a wrong response. "July thirty-first, 1978."

The man started to bend, but stopped himself. "Oh yeah, what's the license number."

Lowering her eyebrows in an amused way, she retorted, "What's yours?"

He shifted his weight, then bent down to start untying her. "You know, you look an awful lot like that lady in the pictures."

Kate kicked off the last of her bindings and smiled down at him. "Look…" she trailed.

"Martin," the man offered.

"Martin," she repeated with a charming grin. She took back her wallet and placed the license inside, sliding it back into her pocket and then glanced around for her beat up old bag. "I'm not gonna lie to you. That is me. But see, I can't be taken in."

His mouth fell open.

Kate touched her head. "What the hell'd you hit me with anyways?"

Martin showed her the slingshot in his back pocket and she watched the color drain from his face.

"I'm not gonna hurt you tough guy." She took the slingshot and smiled, then handed it back. "Lots of people have tried to nab me," she told him with a laugh.

Martin watched as she clapped a hand on his shoulder and walked out of what she now could see was an old barn. She strapped her backpack firmly over her shoulders and sprinted towards the woods just over the fence behind the pig pen. Martin could probably shoot her with the slingshot, but she was sure the shock wouldn't raise until she was clear across the county line.

Kate opened her eyes and watched the person she knew had to be the French woman Sayid had talked about. Her name was Danielle and he told Kate she was off her rocker. Kate was sure she didn't want to divulge any information sooner than she needed to, and she was pretty sure she wasn't strapped to the electrocution device Sayid had mentioned.

"You wander a lot into the jungle," Danielle told her. "It's not safe here."

Nodding her head, Kate remained quiet.

"Your friend wanders into the jungle a lot too."

Her eyebrows lowered and she wondered if Danielle spoke of Jack or Sayid.

"He wanders after you."

"Jack," Kate whispered with a half-grin. "He's doing what he does best, making sure no one gets hurt."

Danielle spat, "He's going to get hurt making sure no one gets hurt."

Nodding her head, "I agree with you."

The older woman smiled. "You have a curious way about you."

"I've been told as much."

"Women were not like you when I was younger."

Kate shrugged. "Things have changed since you landed here." She watched the older woman, just glad she wasn't getting volts slammed into her. Kate had one experience with a taser gun and she didn't care for it.

Danielle went to the music box, which had stopped, and she wound it up again, turning her back on Kate. Looking around, Kate tried to figure any way to undo the ties on her hands and feet. There weren't any jagged edges or any knives lying about. She didn't even see the gun Sayid had mentioned.

"Don't bother looking to escape just yet," Danielle told her.

Laughing, Kate rested her head back on the dirt. "I wasn't looking to escape, just cut lose my hands. I have bondage issues."

"You're were the one in the handcuffs," Danielle told her matter-of-factly.

Kate's smile faded and she raised her head again to look at the woman. Her hair was crazed and plastered to her sweaty skin. She was skinny, wearing a dark tank top similar to her own and baggy pants Kate was sure had once belonged to a man.

"I thought you were one of them." Danielle added.

"When the plane crashed. You saw the plane crash?" Kate asked, curious.

Danielle looked skyward. "I heard a sound like thunder and I went out to investigate. I saw you, I came back for my gun, you were gone."

"You were going to shoot me?" Kate shouted.

Danielle slapped her hard. "Do not shout in the jungle. They will hear you."

Kate licked the blood on her lip and gritted her teeth.

"I did not know you were a new group. I thought if one of them had been outcast, it was for bad reasons."

Lowering her head, Kate looked at her hands, bound before her. "What do you want me for? Are you the one out there whispering my name?" Danielle smiled, and Kate found it scared her.

"The ones out there whisper your name to lure you to them. They are curious about you."

"Like they were curious about Claire?" Kate asked, angry.

Danielle nodded. "We are all curious at heart. Our group landed here, we began experiments, tests, thinking we'd leave soon. It was how we stumbled upon them. They were conducting their own experiments. Their own tests."

"What's that got to do with me? I'm not pregnant."

"Different experiment." Danielle said, touching Kate's nose gently, like one would a small child, before moving away from her. "My Alex was their experiment."

"Alex? Who's Alex?"

Danielle shook her head. "We must stay quiet."

"First tell me what they want with me."

"Women… were not like you when I was younger." Danielle told her mysteriously before grabbing odds and ends and going out a hatch at the end of the room. Kate pushed off the ground with her elbow and sat up straight, getting a better look around. But when she tried to move, she found her waist had also been bound to a pole that seemed to be holding the tent up. It was no use, she knew, she was stuck there.

Locke watched Jack approach him, saw the look in his eyes and knew immediately. The other man didn't even notice the item him and Boone hid behind them as they walked him away from the site to talk about Kate. Jack followed and didn't glance back, he just tried to regain his composure as he explained about the whisper, about his distraction and her disappearance.

"Don't worry, Jack, we'll find her. Besides, Kate's a strong girl. I'm sure she can take care of herself."

Jack kicked the root of a tree hard. "I wish people would stop saying that."

"You mean you wish she'd stop saying that." Locke countered as Boone began dropping his bags to get a fresh drink of water at the small pool near the caves. "You can't take care of everyone, Jack," Locke told him, pointing a finger at him accusingly.

Nodding his head, Jack grimaced. "Yeah, I know that, but that doesn't mean I can't try."

Locke smiled. "We haven't had a lot of time to talk lately."

"You're a busy man, I worry about the people who aren't busy, who like to wander off or have panic attacks," Jack told him with a half smile.

"You should get some water," Boone told him, handing him a full water bottle.

Jack took several long drinks and leaned against a rock. "We need to get back out there. You can find her trail."

Locke nodded slowly. "I just wonder how prudent that is. If we all go out there, this could just be an ambush waiting to happen."

"It could be murder waiting to happen, Kate's, and I'm not about to sit around taking chances."

Locke's back straightened significantly. "You care for her deeply, don't you."

Jack turned away and bobbed his head about slightly. "Not anymore than anyone else here. Yeah."

Boone chuckled, Locke joined in.

Standing and slamming the water bottle down, Jack pulled of his back pack and stalked off. He wasn't amused like they seemed to be.

"Where are you going?" Locke asked.

"Back into the jungle. If you won't help me, I'll just find her myself."

Locke raised a hand and then motioned to Boone and the trio took off again.

"All the numbers are handed out?" Hurley asked Walt. The young boy nodded his head, dropping another palm frond onto the ground near him. "Coolness, dude."

Walt smiled. He felt like, for the first time in, he was doing something important and wasn't just being the kid everyone was watching out for. He hated being the only kid on the island. Everyone kept telling him what to do, pushing him away and then yelling if he went too far. He put his hands on his waist. "Think people'll show?"

Hurley nodded. "I think they'd be stupid not to."

"Why's that?"  
"Dude, what else are they gonna do?"

Walt smiled. "Saw you talking to Mr. Locke. He gonna do anything for us?"

Hurley's grin widened. "Man's gonna do what he does best."

Walt lowered his eyebrows. He didn't know what Locke did best and the few ideas he had weren't entertaining at all. "You think the cave people will show?"

"When word gets out about what's going on, I'm pretty sure we'll have ourselves one big campout on the beach tonight." Hurley told him, nodding his head enthusiastically.

Walt looked at the stage. So far they'd strung together a sheet of large tree branches and covered it in mud. Twice. It was actually starting to resemble a concrete wall. So it seemed like an actual stage.

He pointed. "This is kind of ugly. That supposed to be our backdrop?"

Hurley picked up a handful of seashells and started shoving them into the wet mud in front of him. "Been collecting them for two days," he pointed at a pile beside his foot. They were swirly ones and orange ones and ones with spots. There were smooth ones, ones with ridges and others that looked almost blue.

"So we're gonna decorate the mud with 'em." Walt cocked his head to the right, a smile forming on his lips.

"Yeah. It's the beach backdrop dude."

"And the palms?" He pointed.

Hurley smiled. "Trust, dude."

Charlie ambled over, scratching the back of his head. He grinned at the duo who were putting seashells into the mud he'd been watching Hurley pat all morning. "So this is the setting."

"Yeah, you gonna play your guitar?" Walt asked, turning his attention to the other man.

Charlie seemed almost proud that Walt sounded excited to hear him play. His grin broke into a wide smile. "Me and Claire are gonna duet."

"Can she sing?" Walt asked, his face scrunching a bit.

"Dunno," Charlie said. "I would assume all mum's know something about singing."

Walt shrugged. "I'm just glad you're coming. It'll be cool to hear you play guitar. What was the name of your band? Shift Stick?"

"Drive Shaft," Charlie said, pointing a finger.

Walt nodded his head. "Oh yeah, Drive Shaft. I bet you were a cool rock star."

"I was rather cool," Charlie smiled. "Can I help you with those?"

Hurley turned, surprised and said, "Sure man, dig in."

"Cool," Walt added.

Kate jerked awake when she heard the door to the small hideaway open. Danielle entered with a bag of fruit and smiled down at the other woman. She went towards her and cut the rope that bound her hands and she gave her a fruit, something Kate had never seen before. She held it up to show Danielle, the question not escaping her lips.

"It's good to eat. Eat." Danielle smiled and raised her own fruit, bringing it to her mouth and taking a bite. Liquid shot out of the corners of her mouth and she laughed.

Looking down at the yellow item that looked like an engorged banana, she shrugged. "Cheers," she said quietly, taking a bite. It had a taste like an orange and was full of juice that made her throat feel cold. Danielle put various items away and wound up the music box again. Kate knew if she got out of there, she'd have that song stuck in her head for days.

"Eat," Danielle prompted.

Kate nodded. "What happened to your group?"

"You and your friends are full of many questions."

"We're curious." Kate told her with a smile.

"Aren't we all." Danielle responded with the same sarcasm.

Licking her lips, Kate sighed softly and took another bite. "Sayid told me you said your people got infected with something."

"I'd rather not talk about this now. I've got some news for you that is far more important."

"More important." Kate repeated.

Danielle sat down near her. "They want to know why you killed him. Ethan. The one that went into your group for the pregnant girl."

"Why I killed him?" She shook her head, she didn't pull the trigger.

"They do not understand, they were not going to harm the girl."

Kate shook her head. "Are you serious? What are you, having pow-wow's with them now? I thought they were Oooo-dangerous."

"I know where they are. I can listen to them without them knowing I'm there."

Kate smiled. "Well, I hope they didn't follow you back."

Danielle shook her head, looking insulted.

"So, that's all they want, a QA about why I do what I do?"  
Shrugging, Danielle moved towards Kate and cut the rope that bound her to the pole. "I would suggest you tell them quickly before they create more questions."

Kate stood and jumped away from Danielle. "So what do I do, just go out there and find them? I'm not ready to fall into traps. And there's that pesky infection thing you don't want to talk about. Doesn't sound like your common cold."

Danielle stood and pointed at the doorway. "Go away now."

Raising her eyebrows in surprise, Kate shook her head. "Wait, why are you helping me here."

"You and your friend remind me of people I once knew. Good people."

It struck Kate suddenly that she was free and that asking questions might only get her into more trouble. Though, she knew Sayid would be devastated if she didn't question the woman. Kate knew the woman wouldn't give answers though, so she turned and ran quickly up the stairs and back out into the jungle.

She would have been home free, except, the second she started to feel comfortable, she started hearing the tree branches around her shake. There were voices again, the ones that called her name, but they didn't say anything coherent. She froze, her eyes scanning the trees and behind them she could see bodies moving, very quickly and she came face to face with a large man.

* * *

Locke stopped and bent down, touching a blade of grass and looking ahead of them. Jack didn't like the stopping, he thought it wasted time, but he knew nothing of tracking so to him, being able to see the blade of grass and being able to touch the blade of grass weren't that much different. He bit his bottom lip and flared his nose.

"Ends here."

Jack threw his arms in the air. "How do trails just end? People don't just start flying around here!"

Locke stood and glared at him. "You wanted my help."

"Yeah, but it seems when I get your help it's only half-assed." Jack spat.

Planting his hands on his waiste, Locke waited several moments while Jack took long angry breaths and stared at him. When the other man seemed to calm, Locke asked, "Feel better now?"

"No. Not really." Jack was infuriated.

"Because getting angry isn't going to get us any closer to Kate."

Staring at the ground, Jack countered, "Being calm and sniffing mud isn't getting us any closer either."

Boone narrowed his eyes. "He's just trying to help. It's not his fault the trail's gone cold. It happens."

Jack turned his glare towards the younger man and Boone turned away. Walking past the duo, Jack looked around. "Maybe the trail picks back up."

Locke nodded his head. "There seem to be all sorts of tracks around here. Looks like there might have been other people here. Maybe they took her in a large group. If so, they split up. There are at least ten different trails here. We're three men."

"Then we should pick three, follow them to their end, find the people at those ends and make them tell us where Kate is."

Locke smiled. "If it were that easy."

"Why can't it be?" Jack asked.

Kate shouted. Even though it was against everything in her, everything that she'd learned and everything that she'd become, she screamed like a little girl in a school yard fight and the man smiled at her. It was unnerving. He didn't touch her, or talk or make any sound. He looked like anyone off the beach. His shirt was worn, smelled of sweat and grass, his pants were mud splattered and his face was a reddish brown, like he'd been in the sun too long.

She could count the wrinkles on his forehead and knew he'd been there a long time by the way that even the skin in between the skin was suntanned to the same color. He continued smiling down at her as the others circled in the trees just beyond her vision. Kate took a step backwards, but she heard the trees rustle behind her. She couldn't get past him, he was far larger than herself, but she couldn't run into the trees because she had no clue what was there.

Her mind screamed Jack's name, but it wouldn't have done her any good. The man sat against a tree stump and she watched him. He was smiling up at her, like Ethan used to do back in the caves. She hated when she ran into him before, he always looked so gung-ho to be on the island. Kind of like Locke, only, more … psychotic. Funny how she hadn't given Ethan a second thought back then. She was more concerned with keeping her secrets and making Jack trust her.

Not too easy when you lie to him, sweetheart.

It was the Marshall's voice in her head and she watched the man who continued to smile at her. "What do you want?" She asked him.

"I think you already know."

"I have ideas, yes."

"Then tell us." He waved an arm slowly towards the trees that had stopped moving, the trees that were attentive and awaiting her answers.

Kate glanced around. "We were in danger," she said, amplifying her voice so they could all hear. "When one is in danger, they do what they have to do to survive. "

He shrugged. "One does not have to kill."

She huffed, "Maybe you aren't familiar with the circumstances."

"All he wanted was the girl."

Laughing, she leaned against a tree near her. "Funny, that's all we wanted too. Except we wanted to keep her safe and he was killing people."

"You're a strange woman."

"Says the man who stalks me," she told him, crossing her arms over her chest. She was quite tired of being scared and knew it really wouldn't get her anywhere. If she had a gun, she'd probably have shot him already and taken off. Which was probably why Jack took away the guns.

The man stood and began to walk away.

Kate pushed off the tree. "Hey! Wait! That's all? That's all you wanted?"

"There's a time and a place for everything, Kate. I'm very sure we'll meet again."

She definitely didn't like the sound of that. Taking several steps towards him, he suddenly sprinted into the jungle and as fast as she ran, she couldn't catch up. He was gone. "HEY!" She shouted.

Kate began to run again.

Jack stopped short, his foot sliding on a patch of wet leaves and Boone put a hand out to steady him, his face whipping in the same direction as Jack's. Locke stopped also. They could hear a woman's voice. It was Kate. The whispers were also there, they grew louder and the trio of men were suddenly rushed by bodies. They ran past them and slapped and laughed and wooped. Jack took a sharp breath as he thought he felt a knife glide over the skin of his arm, but it was just a stick that left a muddy trail there.

Locke stood absolutely calm in the midst of it. He even had a smile playing on his face. The men continued to run past them until there were none and Jack was tempted to turn and chase after them, but he heard her again. She shouted and he took off in the direction of the sound.

Boone started after him, but Locke stopped him with an arm. "He found what he was looking for."

"What if she's hurt?" Boone asked, geniunely concerned.

Locke shook his head. "I don't think she is."

"This cryptic shit is getting a little annoying." Boone whined, turning on his heel and heading back towards the caves. He'd had just about enough for the day, he had a paper with a number in his pocket and he still didn't know what he was going to do. Locke turned and followed the younger man. He too had a number and a promise to keep.

Kate shouted again, she wanted to know what he meant, why they'd meet again. She wanted to know if he knew things she didn't. Mostly she wanted to know which way back to the beach, so when she slammed into a solid body, she punched it and stood back to start asking only when she looked down, Jack was holding his stomach and heaving air.

"Oh my God!" She shouted, reaching down to steady him. "I'm so sorry, I thought you were them."

Jack nodded, grimacing as he glanced up at her. He smiled. It was hard to manage, but she seemed untouched. Kate was unharmed, and it made him try to breath a sigh of relief. Kate pulled him towards a tree and pushed him to lean on it and catch his breath. He touched her cheek, pushing the long strands of dark curly hair away from her face and this time his smile came easier.

"I'm so sorry," she repeated. "They were running away, I wanted to catch up…"

"It's alright," he heaved, pulling her close to him.

Kate was confused as Jack wrapped his arms around her, pressing her cheek to his chest to listen to the pounding beneath his skin. His breathing slowed and he didn't release her and she found herself hugging him back, feeling a bit safer than she'd felt since… the night before.

"What happened?" He asked finally, pulling away from her.

Kate rubbed a hand across her forehead, feeling her cheeks flushed. "Danielle, the French lady, nabbed me, thought she was protecting me. Clocked me good across the head," she smiled, touching the spot on the right side of her head that was knotted.

Stepping closer again, Jack examined through her hair. "What did she do?"

"Nothing, she apparently saw I was in danger, thought it'd be better to kidnap me until she could figure out what the others wanted with me."

"What did they want?"

Kate hesitated, swallowing and wincing as he pressed down on a tender spot. "They wanted to know why we… why we killed Ethan."

"It's not like you did anything."

"Apparently women in their tribe don't hunt and climb trees."

Jack lowered his eyebrows. "Are they looking for good breeding here?"

Rolling her eyes, she pushed his shoulder a bit. "Look, whatever they wanted, they got it, so can we get back to the caves?"

He laughed. "The caves?"

"Yeah." Kate nodded her head, watching the trees behind Jack.

"Thought you weren't going to be Eve."

She looked up at him. There was an awkward silence. She wanted to tell him she was afraid to be HIS Eve because relationships and her didn't quite get along as well as they did for most normal people. She wanted to tell him a lot of things. So she gave him a grin and walked past him. "Guessing the caves are this way, ocean's to my left…" she began towards her right.

"Where are you going?" Jack asked, chasing after her.

"There's a waterfall this way. I need to get cleaned up a bit."

Jack looked around. "For what?"

"Talent show tonight."

He stared down at her. "You're going to participate?"

"Don't know. Got fourty one. What's your number?"

"Fourty two."

"Hey, wanna duet."

"You mean sing?" Jack asked with a laugh.

She rolled her eyes again and smiled. "I don't know. Not like I can get up there and show people how to beat up their boyfriends."

"Boyfriend?" Jack asked, this time amused.

Kate turned and pushed him away. "Stop that."

"Hey, I'm not the one talking in Fruedian slips." He pushed a tree vine away from his face while listening to her laugh. It was a nice sound, he realized. Ahead he could hear the steady noise of water rushing against water and he cracked his neck thinking about a nice long soak in a cool lake.

Walt bounced on the make-shift stage with Hurley laughing behind him. He stomped on the palm fronds they'd laid out carefully and interwoven to create a pretty sturdy ground atop the soft sand. Michael stood close by watching his son assume a 'rapper' stance as Hurley played human boombox behind him. Then the boy started rapping to some tune Michael thought he'd heard on the radio once by a guy who may or may not have gotten shot. He was energetic, slapping Hurley five every so often more to keep his confidence than anything else. When the duo was done, Michael hollered and clapped and Walt beamed.

Hurley stepped off stage and Michael shook his hand. "Thanks man, this was a great idea."

"Dude, it was no problem. This is exactly what these people needed. I mean, look at 'em. Laughing and clapping and enjoying themselves."

Michael watched Walt sitting with Vincent, breathing hard, but smiling as another man took the stage and began reciting poetry. "No, man, I mean for Walt. Thanks."

Hurley turned away bashfully. "Just doing what I gotta do to keep up the moral."

Sawyer clapped as the man ended his poetry and he jumped on stage with a little bit of his own. Most seemed surprised as he puffed on a cigarette and stared at the sky reciting Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in William Shatner speak. They laughed and he smiled and then he bowed as they clapped when he finished. He smirked and took his seat near the bonfire.

Locke emerged and took the stage. He watched as people slowed their laughing and waited to see what he would do. He reached into his waistband and removed a large hunting knife. "I believe everyone has talents. We've seen a good many tonight, and there are some we won't see due to fear. Back at home my talent was spreadsheets. Obviously, can't do that here," people laughed. "So I'm here with Boone, as a duo, to present our talents."

Boone stepped on stage and smiled, watching the way Shannon rolled her eyes at him and he blew a mock kiss at her. Sayid pushed her playfully and she managed a grin.

"Food's on people!" Boone shouted pointing towards a second bonfire not far away that now had a boar roasting.

Everyone clapped as plastic plates from the Oceanic airlines began circulating full of fresh fruit and boar meat. Locke gave a half salute and shouted, "Enjoy!" before walking away from the stage and back to the boar to finish distributing and then packing the meat.

Charlie jumped up off the ground with his guitar and he took the stage. "Eh, as many of you may know, I was part of a band before the, you know, crash…"

Many people shouted sarcastic responses and everyone laughed.

"Well, any ways you slice it, I can play the guitar." He put his hand up to his eyebrows. "So all's I need is my lovely assistant, Claire."

She smiled, walking up to the stage from a palm tree behind most of the crowd and her cheeks burned a bright pink. She touched her belly delicately and waited as he began stumming the guitar. Then she broke into a soft rendition of Mocking Bird. The crowd joined along.

Kate sat next to Jack near the front and she smiled. "This is going a lot better than I thought," she told him. Someone passed her a plate and she took a bite of meat and looked back at Jack.

He chose to eat the fruit first and nodded. "You thought you were looking forward to several rounds of the Worst of American Idol?"

She lowered her eyebrows. "American Idol?"

"How long were you on the run?" He joked.

Kate smiled, taking a bite of her banana. "A while. Besides that, I was never big on television. Must have missed that fad."

"You're lucky then," he told her with a laugh.

Touching his knee, she watched Claire and Charlie wrap up their song and then another man got on stage to tell jokes. They were funny, but Kate wasn't paying attention. Comedy wasn't something she was ever really big on either. She watched the way Charlie helped Claire sit back down on the sand.

"You've got that look again," he told her, taking out a leaf that had embedded itself in her hair, which hung loose over her shoulders.

"What look," she turned to look up at him.

"That thinking look." He smiled.

"Just thinking what they have is nice."

He moved his arm as she adjusted against him. Closer to him. "We could ha…" he started.

She stopped him by standing. "Number's up, Jack, let's go."

"Wait, what are we doing?"

Kate showed him the small bag of fruit she had hanging near her waist and he lowered his eyebrows in confusion. She stepped onto the stage area and smiled, wiping her nose lightly. "I can't sing. I can't dance. Can't recite poetry or play guitar. Most of the things I can do are more survival skills than talents really. But I can juggle."

"You can what?" Jack said quickly, standing next to her. He was aware everyone was watching, most curious about what he was going to do.

"I'm guessing Jack's in the same boat."

She handed him three small fruit and palmed three herself. "Kate," he said with a laugh.

"Come on, Jack," it was a whisper. "You're totally the type who would know."

He lowered his head and laughed, putting his free hand on his waist.

Everyone began clapping in unison, chanting, "Jack, Jack, Jack."

He pointed at her quickly, a grin across his face and he began slowly, the three fruit flying into the air in a rhythm, which Kate soon joined. Somewhere in the shadows Sawyer laughed out loud and she was tempted to throw a fruit at him, but she concentrated on the look on Jack's face. It was pure enjoyment, something she hadn't seen ever. So she continued juggling until they were both laughing so hard they dropped the fruit and everyone cheered them off the stage. Collapsing back onto the sand, they continued laughing together, ignoring the wind in the trees and the whispers they carried.

* * *

Finis 


End file.
